---
title: "Why the admin order and the public order can differ"
date: 2026-10-22
author: "Matt Cromwell"
featured_image: "https://rootsandfruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/rf-featured-reorder-all-the-things-2400x1260-1.png"
---

# Why the admin order and the public order can differ

This is the gap behind most of the confused reviews. The reorder screen looks like it “sets the order of the site.” It sets the order of its own list. The blog, a category, a Query Loop, and a menu you arranged by hand are other lists, and each one has its own sort.

## Two queries, two sorts

The reorder screen asks for published posts of one type, ordered by menu order, ascending. The main blog asks for posts ordered by date. Both queries are doing what they were told. Saving a drag updates the menu order column. It does not edit the blog’s query.

Pages feel different because a lot of page lists already sort by menu order. You drag a page, and a page menu on the front moves with it. You drag a post, and the blog does not, because nobody asked the blog to use that column. The data changed in both cases.

## Where people look, and what that screen is sorting by

What you are looking atWhat it sorts byReorder screenMenu order, ascending. This is the dragPosts → All PostsDate, unless you click another columnThe blog, or a post type archiveDate, until you change the query or turn on AdvancedA category or tag archiveDate. Menu order is not per termAppearance → MenusThe order you set on that menuA Query Loop that inherits the template queryWhatever the template query usesAdvanced can close the gap for a whole post type, and it can also surprise you, because it rewrites queries you were not looking at. I would rather point one Query Loop at Custom Order. The steps are in [Show the saved order on the front end](https://rootsandfruit.com/docs/reorder-posts/show-the-saved-order-on-the-front-end/).

If the reorder screen and the public page disagree after you have pointed the query at menu order, the next place I look is a sticky post, a second plugin sorting later, or a language mix. [Keep order across languages](https://rootsandfruit.com/docs/reorder-posts/keep-order-across-languages/) covers that last one.